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water supply and treating waste but also include reducing All these private-sector thermal power plants are now on
emissions to enhance the quality of air and enhance their way to retrofitting air pollution control technologies
environmental sustainability, given that India has seven of in their existing units, which will help India move closer
the ten most polluted cities in the world. to achieving its ratified international commitments on
harmful greenhouse gases under the Paris Agreement
After setting up a high-tech continuous emission on Climate Change. TCE’s new FGD technology
monitoring system at Tata Steel’s Jamshedpur plant in implementation in the power plants will also promote
2011, TCE has now undertaken a massive exercise to sustainable development since the plants can convert
retrofit multi-pollutant control systems in over 32 coal- their emissions into by-products such as gypsum and
based thermal plants with a cumulative capacity of over ammonium sulphate.
41 GW, across India. Coal-based energy is one of the
biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in India. Renewing urban infrastructure
This is the first exercise of its kind in the country and will According to the UN, some 5 billion people will reside
enable the plants to reduce their sulphur dioxide, nitrogen in cities by 2030. This calls for efficient urban planning
dioxide and suspended particulate matter (SPM) emissions and management to tackle the challenges brought by
in line with the new environmental norms of the Ministry urbanisation. It also entails providing adequate urban
of Environment & Forests (MOEF). infrastructure to promote sustainable development. Yet,
India’s urban infrastructure is woefully stretched in every
TCE has helped the ministry draft new environmental aspect.
norms for thermal power plants and also sensitised the
generators on the need to implement the retrofit systems, TCE has, over the years, taken up numerous urban
besides innovating on new methodologies for estimating infrastructure projects to promote sustainable
flue gas emissions and recommending appropriate flue development. For instance, the Sursagar lake in the heart
gas desulphurisation (FGD) technologies. of Bikaner was highly polluted because of an unplanned